Gone are the days when the only rewards in a game were a chance to play for a little bit longer. Game companies are waking up to the fact that it pays to give real rewards to their consumers so they keep coming back.

Above: Chethan Ramachandran

Image Credit: VentureBeat

As Ned Lerner recently wrote in a guest post for us, “prizes are everywhere. People love prizes. They give us competition and drama. Las Vegas thrives on relatively mindless games like slot machines, craps, and blackjack, where the engagement isn’t nearly as deep as in video games. So why do the people who make video games ignore what could be the dramatic centerpiece of our best-known games, the prize?”

The casinos figured this out a long time ago, and so have the purveyors of social casino games. But that’s not where it ends. We’ll delve into this in a panel at our GamesBeat 2013 conference. Moderated by Chethan Ramachandran, CEO of analytics marketing firm Playnomics (the winner of a previous GamesBeat Who’s Got Game contest for the best gaming startup), the session will include panelists PlayStudios CEO Andrew Pascal, Terry Angelos of Trialpay, and Courtney Guertin, co-founder of Kiip.

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The event is Oct. 29-Oct. 30 at the Sofitel Hotel in Redwood City, Calif.

Here are more of the speakers we have announced for the proceedings:

Mark DeLoura, senior digital media advisor for the White House office of science and technology

Susan Choe, managing director of Visionnaire Ventures

Andrew Pascal, CEO of Playstudios

Kristian Segerstrale, co-founder of Initial Capital

Maria Alegre, CEO of Chartboost

Jude Gomila, co-founder of Heyzap

Zach Phillips, vp of publisher development at PlayHaven

Matt DiPietro, vice president of marketing at Twitch

Chris Early, vice president of digital games at Ubisoft

John Graham, COO of Humble Bundle

Chethan Ramachandran, CEO of Playnomics

Justin Saint Clair,Windows Games manager

Kenny Rosenblatt, CEO of Arkadium

John Smedley, the president of Sony Online Entertainment

Geoff Keighley, the host of Spike TV’s GTTV

Sean Ryan, the head of game partnerships at Facebook

Mike Gallagher, president and CEO of the Entertainment Software Association

Bing Gordon, a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Tim Chang, the managing director at Mayfield Fund

Victor Kislyi, the CEO of Wargaming

Julie Uhrman, the CEO of Ouya

John Riccitiello, an active game investor and former CEO of Electronic Arts

Martin Rae, the president of the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences

Clive Downie, the CEO of DeNA West

Kevin Chou, the CEO of Kabam

Tim Merel, the managing director at Digi-Capital

Sunny Dhillon, an early stage investor at Signia Venture Partners

Brock Pierce, the managing director of Clearstone Global Fund

We’ve entered the Battle Royal, an era where many firms are vying for gamers’ time. Apple and Google want to get in the living room and are waging war against Nintendo and Sony. Microsoft already has an edge in living room entertainment with its Xbox Live service, but it wants a piece of mobile as well. It’s a confusing time for gamemakers. Where should they take their titles? Which platforms will provide the best experiences? Who will make them the most money?

We’ll have a steady drumbeat of speakers as we get closer to GamesBeat 2013′s October date. We expect to have more than 80 of the gaming industry’s best lined up for our fifth annual event.

Each year, GamesBeat follows a big trend. In 2009, we focused on how “All The World’s a Game,” with the explosion of games on the global stage. In 2010, GamesBeat@GDC focused on “Disruption 2.0.” In 2011, our theme was “Mobile Games Level Up,” investigating the busy intersection of games and mobile technology. In 2012, we explored “The Crossover Era,” the time when so many big game companies and startups were transforming themselves by expanding from one market to the next. Our judges, meanwhile, are already busy picking the finalists in the Who’s Got Game Innovation Showdown for the best game startup.

As companies adapt to change, we’re witnessing disruption, adaptation, consolidation, innovation, and the arrival of big money. We’re talking billions of dollars that are at stake. We’re expecting 400 notables from throughout the game industry — social, mobile, online, and console. Please join us.